The river Tay in Perthshire Scotland continued to catch salmon but still in disappointing numbers due to very hot weather and low water last week making life difficult. Currently there is a weak run of summer salmon and odd grilse on the river but expectation is high with a pending improving summer run with signs of more grilse running last week. The weather is to be reasonably settled and cooler with a chance of some rain this week that may just trigger off some more improvements. The catches have been disappointing but could suddenly improve at any minute giving renewed optimism for the coming week assuming more fish enter the system.
This past week saw water levels continue at summer height most of the week due to warm settled weather making catches suffer. The fishing can be supreme and the scenery is not bad either. Currently there are numerous wild flowers blooming on the river banks. Ospreys visit the river on a daily basis and you could see an Otter or a Kingfisher darting past while you are in mid cast! It is true what they say, “ a salmon is a bonus!”
Beat catches reported
(week ending 26th July)
SALMON & GRILSE: Almondmouth 1, Upper Scone 2, Stobhall 4, Taymount 1, Ballathie 5, Cargill 4, Islamouth 5, Dalguise 1, Loch Faskally 1.
Total: 24 Largest: Ballathie 18lbs
SEA TROUT: Fishponds 1, Dalmarnock 1.
Total: 2 Largest: Dalmarnock 4lbs
Lower Tay.
The summer fishing is well underway on the lower river as most of the boats are now back on the river below Stanley for rest of the season with an expected summer run over the next few weeks. Sea Trout have been an added bonus this summer but we are looking for a strengthening run now to go into the autumn on the river as a whole. The lower beats continued to struggle however Almondmouth had a grilse landed by Simon Firness on a busman’s holiday from Dunkeld.
Upper Scone had a couple of fish for the week both landed by local angler Davie Mitchell, he caught a minted 13 pounds summer salmon on his first cast of the day on Monday with the fly on Benchil and on Saturday he landed a fresh grilse from the Corner pool on the Pitlochrie beat weighing 6 pounds. Under the current conditions Stobhall did very well landing 4 for the week and Taymount managed a 12 pounds fish on Saturday after an experienced party fished intensely all week. Conditions are suiting Ballathie and Cargill with 9 fish being recorded by both beats up to 18 pounds in the week.
On Cargill Roy Frost had success landing a couple of fish up to 11 pounds. Islamouth faired as well as anyone with 5 fish for the week.
Middle Tay.
The catches further upstream were again harder earned this past week, as conditions were more settled with lower river levels. Over the weeks to come this will hopefully improve as the salmon run freely up the river with improving runs. Odd fish were caught during the week. Dalguise managed a 6 pounds grilse from the Bridge pool.
Upper Tay.
This area has fished steadily in recent weeks but lack of water has curtailed sport.
Tummel.
It has been a very quiet week on the Tummel again with odd catches but fish have been running through Pitlochry Dam with the count over 3250. A fish was reported from Loch Faskally. This was an interesting bit of information from the Pitlochry Angling web site about the numbers of salmon ascending the ladder at the dam. “Salmon started getting up the ladder in early April at a water temperature of about 6C. During April although some salmon got up the ladder, numbers mainly built up downstream of the dam. In early May, the water became warm enough to allow the waiting salmon to clear quickly producing the clear pulse in the counts seen in the plot below. There was then a short lull before the count built up quickly through May as the main run of salmon arrived, and into June and July. We are currently waiting for the main run of grilse to arrive.”
Isla & Ericht.
Salmon are now freely running the Isla with rising water temperatures and nosing up into the Ericht however nothing was reported last week. A bit more water would help this system now.
The Tay Ghillies Association has launched a FISH OF THE MONTH AWARD to encourage good catch and release practice on the Tay. Each month the winner will receive 2 personalised crystal Whisky glasses engraved with details of the catch and they will automatically be entered into the fish of the year competition for a Stylish Crystal Engraved Decanter.
• Catch a good Tay Salmon
• Weigh it carefully and photograph it with as little handling as possible.
• Verify with Ghillie
• Safely return the fish with a minimum of handling
• TGA Committee decision is final
Send entries with a photo and verification details to:-
Mike Hay, Sec of Tay Ghillies Assoc.
Mobile: 07762 464407
Email: tayhayurg@gmail.com
The Spring Salmon fishing has been good so far despite the big water levels early in the season with some notable catches, let us hope this is a taste of what is to come for the Summer and Autumn as the weather remains reasonable to maintain it all.
If you have any news or pictures of catches or experiences on the Tay and you would like to share them please email me on robert.salmonfishing@googlemail.com to be included in the reports.
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